for The New York Times: Elephants Arrive, So Humans Don’t Forget by José A. Alvarado Jr.

News

for The New York Times: Elephants Arrive, So Humans Don’t Forget

josé a. alvarado jr.

Sep 26, 2024

Location: New York, New York

Summary

“The Great Elephant Migration,” a touring public-art exhibition that has opened in New York, not only depicts wildlife but also helps save it.

More than a century ago, New York City’s Meatpacking District teemed with large animals, most of them bound for a bloody end. Now, herds of huge creatures are once again gathered on this downtown Manhattan neighborhood’s cobblestone streets, but these are taking part in a new and joyful journey.

They are the life-size sculptures of “The Great Elephant Migration,” a public-art installation of a hundred animal models, each based on an individual living elephant in the densely populated Nilgiri Hills region of Southern India. Handmade by Indigenous artisans using dried lantana camara, an invasive, toxic shrub that has been destroying wildlife habitats, the sculpted elephants occupy some 12,000 square feet of the district’s plazas and walkways. Arriving in New York as part of a U.S. tour, the exhibition raises funds for conservation — and not just of elephants, whose three species are all endangered.

Photographed for The New York Times, with words by Laurel Graeber

Elephants Arrive, So Humans Don’t Forget
“The Great Elephant Migration,” a touring public-art exhibition that has opened in New York, not only depicts wildlife but also helps save it.
Nytimes.com

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José A. Alvarado Jr.

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